Sunday, June 26, 2011

John is the family's IT guy. That means if we have any questions about our computers, how to get them to talk to a printer, what's new with Apple products, or anything else tech-related, we go to him. If he doesn't know right away, which is VERY rare, he'll figure it out. He says he's in training for being a Mac Genius at the Apple Store when he turns 18. Imagine what he'll learn in the next 17 months!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Now, those of you who know my husband David know that he is musical. He sings. He plays the guitar. He even taps out rhythms when working with the worship team for a Sunday morning set. What you might not know, however, is that he also used to play the trumpet. I'm told that that era of his musical career was short-lived, but remnants of those days eek out every so often. In fact, we get an earful of his tunes whenever he gets ahold of any cylindrical tubing, the legs to our swim team sign being a perfect example. Do I love him for his mouthy melodies? Not exactly for that, but it's just one of his quirks that makes him him. I get a kick out of how much HE enjoys it so much, and the kids often join in with their own tunes. It certainly helps me find him easily in a busy post-meet parking lot.

Today's swim meet went well. The other team had more than 20 more swimmers than our team, but we still managed to win. Yahoo! Almost every swimmer on our team shaved off time. John took off almost 2 seconds on his back stroke, both boys took off time on their breast stroke, and Shannon's free relay team got first place, again! This particular team of 13-14 girls is still undefeated. Here's a short video of the end of John's leg of his free relay, where he gave the other team quite a challenge.

Friday, June 24, 2011

n. A place where homeschoolers pass on materials they no longer need at unbelievably low prices. Here's our table. I'd really like to not bring any of this home. Anyone interested in sixth grade reading?

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Each day I check my tickle file. It holds items that have been tucked away for my attention on a specific date in the future.

I've known about tickle files for years, and several times I've tried to get a system up and started, only to lose papers to a neglected stack of files. Last year I read a blog post about David Allen's Getting Things Done. I devoured the book in a few days and immediately set a day aside to get my inbox to zero.

It takes a bit of effort to keep the new habits in place, and I have to get right back on track as soon as I see disorder nudging close again. However, I'm learning that staying organized is a lot easier than getting organized The biggest reward is the peace of mind that being organized brings. I can only keep so much in this 50+ noggin, and I much prefer to let my tickle file handle the not-right-now storage space.